The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE MATRICULA CONSULAR” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3738-H3739 on May 7, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE MATRICULA CONSULAR
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, every year or so for the last several years there has been an attempt to bring something before the body and, in fact, it has come before the body and it is referred to as amnesty, sometimes an extension of 245(i), or that is the technical way of explaining it. But nonetheless, it is always a process, a desire on the part of people here and maybe even in the administration to grant amnesty to people who are living here illegally, that is, to reward people who have broken our laws by coming into the United States without our permission. It is a bad idea, and so far the Congress of the United States has failed to go along with it, thank goodness.
So what has happened in the last several months really is that a new tactic has been applied here, a new strategy has been developed. Unfortunately, I think even with the agreement of the administration, something else is happening in order to accomplish exactly the same thing. Instead of now passing a bill through the House of Representatives simply granting amnesty to everyone who is living here illegally and rewarding them for that behavior, there is another thing that is going on, and what is happening is this: foreign nations hand out to their nationals something called the Matricula Consular. That is what it is referred to by the State Department and by our government.
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It is a card. It is an I.D. card. Foreign governments now have every right to give their nationals any kind of identification that they want to. But what is odd and what has happened in the last several months is that the government of Mexico has charged its consular officials here in the United States with the responsibility of going out and actually lobbying State and local governments to get them to accept this matricula consular card from their nationals who are living here illegally, because, of course, that card has only one purpose. If you are in the United States of America, if you are a national from a foreign country who is here and if you are here legally, you have some documentation to that effect. We have given you a green card. We have given you a passport. Whatever it is, you have documentation from the United States that you are here legally.
If you are here illegally, you need some sort of identification, and that is what this card provides. Recognizing that, and recognizing that they cannot get amnesty through the Congress, they have begun to go to State and local governments all over the United States, lobbying them to get them to accept this card.
They have done it to the banking industry, and the banks have been all too happy to go along with it, looking at their bottom line, looking at profits, even over the security of the Nation, because there is nothing secure about these cards. There is no way to guarantee that the person holding the card is who in fact that card says he is. In fact, we have already arrested people in this country carrying three or four of these identification cards. Their picture is on them, but different names on each card. They are easily fraudulently developed.
So the idea that they have some sort of advantage because they have a secure card is ridiculous. Beyond that, it is again attempting to do exactly the same thing we did not do in the Congress, and that is to give everybody amnesty. Because if you can use this matricula consular card to obtain bank accounts, to get your kids in school, to get housing from the housing authority in their area, get your driver's license, get your library card, everything that a citizen of this country can use their own identification for, if you can do that using this matricula consular card given to you by a foreign government, then of course there is no reason to actually push for amnesty. You will have achieved it. Everyone living in the United States of America illegally, up to 20 million people, will have this card given to them by their government.
By the way, it is now just Mexico and Honduras and I think there are five other countries in South and Central America providing this card now. What is to say that other countries would not demand exactly the same thing from the United States? Why would the government of Syria not say that they are going to give people living here in the United States illegally this card? How would we tell them that they cannot do that or we will not accept it?
Not only that, we have found the administration, just a little bit ago, we found the regs that have been promulgated by the Department of Treasury now allow the banks to accept these cards. So our own administration, our own government is in league with the governments of these foreign countries who have given these cards to their nationals living illegally in the United States. Our own government is helping these people violate our own laws. That is the truth of the matter. That is an abomination, and that is something we should not allow to go forward.
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